The SERPENTS of BIENVILLE SEAN HERMAN'S TRANSFORMATIVE TATTOO

Years ago I found myself in a small shop in Montclair, New Jersey. Sheets

I was in Powerhouse Tattoo Company getting tattooed by my friend Krooked Ken, the tattoo he gave me is still a favourite of mine. At the time Ken was using classic American tattoo imagery, and re-appropriating it, adding his own head onto the subject. I knew what I wanted, so I told Ken, “I want the Don Hardy eagle, you know, THE eagle”. He just looked at me and smiled, “Oh, the one in the red book, got it.” That was the power of the imagery Hardy had created, one whose origin was started somewhere else, and evolved into this hallowed piece.

Tattooing utilises images, passing them down generation to generation; with each step something in the image evolves, but the roots can still be seen. Within classic American tattooing circles, this is a point of pride. Walking into certain street shops you with see beautifully hand painted flash lining the walls, with inscriptions reading “originally drawn by Owen Jensen, repainted by (so and so).” This aspect of subculture is essential, some would say it’s as American as apple pie. Though apple pie was originally created in England, with the first recipe being written by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1381. Bristol Tattoo Club was founded in the 1940’s and gave birth to the American movements of Tattoo Social clubs that much of modern Classic American tattooing derives from. The cultural evolution tied to tattooing is essential to its longevity.

In the celebrated book Modern Primitives, Ed Hardy called the “Rock of Ages” theme “monolithic” saying that it had “monolithic magnetism” to him. He goes on to say: